Organizational Leadership Who Moved My

Organizational Leadership

Who Moved My Cheese?

Spencer Johnson's clever book delves into the issues surrounding organizational change, and the difficulties that people and groups struggle with as change becomes necessary for a company to make progress. Clearly Johnson has a good handle on the issues. Through his characters (Sniff and Scurry are mice; Hem and Haw are little people) he creates a scenario that the average reader can relate to; change can be scary, and people are very often resistant to change in their organizations.

There are several meaningful messages from the book. One important message is that individuals must be reassured enough by management to believe that they will gain something from change. No one wants the kind of change that takes away from his or her comfort zone. In this book cheese is actually a metaphor for happiness, so when flexible employees find their work environment has changed, they seek to find the cheese. Another message in this book is that some characters (Sniff and Scurry) easily find cheese / happiness, even if there are changes and the cheese isn't in the same place. Other characters (Hem and Haw) become agitated and totally confused when their cheese isn't where it always was before. The message is, be flexible, have faith in the organization, and adjust to whatever changes occur.

What I take away from this book is that since organizations are rarely static, to keep market share and profitability, adjustments must be made; employees, with good leadership, are perfectly capable of making modifications -- and finding happiness at the same time. My project with organizational leadership can take clues and themes from this book. Good communication within the organization -- resulting from strong leadership by managers -- can help make organizational adjustments and changes run smoothly and efficiently.

Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results

Mike Rother's book was of course written prior to Toyota's public relations disaster (due to faulty workmanship) in 2010. But notwithstanding Toyota's loss of respect and obligation to pay out millions of dollars -- as part of the replacement parts on over ten million vehicles -- this book is positive and helpful for organizations. Toyota's way of doing things (kata), or strategies, are presented in easy-to-understand language, without hype or excess verbiage. Key points in this book include how leaders lead and teach, how change is instrumental to success, and how Toyota organized improvement workshops specifically designed to deal with flaws and out-dated approaches to workplace dynamics.

The messages from this book are useful and practical. Being able to adapt to new work structures and strategies is part of improving the culture of workers, for one. Another message is that because the marketplace is unpredictable, an organization must be flexible and willing to adapt to market changes almost immediately. The step-by-step process that Toyota uses to analyze various production processes is a valuable tool for any company whether they make cars or vitamins. Another message that came across clearly was how the behavior of managers can have an enormously positive impact on the attitudes and behavior patterns of employees.